Such Great Heights - Iron + Wine - Such Great Heights EP (2006)
Iron & Wine’s cover of Such Great Heights is a little bit of an oddity; it was originally released as a B-Side of the original performer’s (the Postal Service)single of the song. The original version (which is fantastic in its own right), is a beautiful, electronic indie-pop experience, but Samuel Beam’s folk interpretation does it a kindness. Iron & Wine give provide a heartfelt authenticity to the song… not that the Postal Service’s version lack authenticity, but it’s a very different interpretation. The cover is mellow, with a slowed tempo, and sweet.

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Day 66!

Hurt - Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)
Country legend covers industrial hero… doesn’t happen often, but, in the case of Hurt, the result is spectacular. Hurt is a deeply personal song dealing with experiences with addiction and fragile mental states… but Cash took the song and really made it his own. The original reeks of authenticity, but, Cash makes it more real, more personal, even though its direct content is someone else’s. There’s a certain degree of shared experience, and that gets communicated splendidly well in this cover. One of those cases where the cover bypasses the original; even Reznor has said the song is now a Cash song.

I hadn’t listened to this in a while… I forgot just how powerful this rendition is.

Come on Eileen - Save Ferris - It Means Everything (1997)
With all the country-type covers, I figured it’s a good time to go in a different direction… ska is a fairly different direction While pretty popular, Come On Eileen isn’t a particularly great song, it is kinda fun, though. Save Ferris bumped the fun factor up a bit with a higher, bouncier tempo, and the youthful energy of ska. I dunno, I don’t feel like saying much, so, just listen to the song, I guess.

Not having access here to post yesterday before I posted to Tumblr, coupled with the fact I’ve been doing this for 2 months now with no discussion generated, I’m stopping with the daily song project on Frih. Feel free to follow along on Tumblr if you want updates.
http://ankhanu.tumblr.com/tagged/Daily-Song